I Support A Strike!!!!

We thank you for your support

 

These suit-and-tie, college-degreed, management people have gotten “Union Busting” down to a science. Last attempt to unionize I had witnessed, was the JB Hunt terminal in South Gate, California a over a decade ago. After identifying anyone who is in support of the labor union, they fired them for the most minor infractions. If they had clocked in 1 minute late, they're gone for “tardiness‼” If they raise the tone of their voice, they're gone for “insubordination‼” If he/she had not done either, they give the driver conflicting instructions; one dispatcher will say “go pick up this load” while another dispatcher will give different orders; and the driver is terminated for “failure to follow orders ‼”

The threat of organized labor (return of Teamsters) is another reason why the Feds had passed NAFTA. Under the guise of “free trade,” they're bringing in cheaper Mexicans who can haul the freight for less ‼

 

I work in theater, but my late father said he'd disown me for two reasons. One, if I ever converted from Judaism. Two, if I ever crossed a picket line.

He worked for Uncle Sam and I still remember his rant when Reagan busted PATCO.

If people get picky about the fact that you're O/O's and not company employees striking, I'd remind them that in history there were such things as guilds.

This reminds me of small retailers getting blown away by Wal-Mart except the bomb is hitting you on the cost line first, as opposed to the revenue line first.

As an outsider it seems to me that you need to form some sort of truckers' cooperative that literally has its own plant and fleet so that you could compete against the larger companies. I don't see how an independent can surmount the cost advantages that come from being able to bargain as a more muscular entity over insurance rates, fuel costs, brokerage fees, and labor costs. Not to mention economies of scale.

If you could do that I dream of a co-op that could lure drivers away with better pay rates, less abusive hours, and so forth.

Somebody who's a brother or a sister through and through ought to get into the brokerage business right now and take a much smaller cut than the competition and pass on the difference to the driver. If enough drivers gravitated to the better quote maybe you'd shake out the real parasites?

I think disruption on the road could break either way. Four things I think work in your favor:

You'll get a hell of a lot of press.
You'll tap into a popular rage against higher gasoline prices.
You'll tap into a popular rage against uneven fees, taxes, and government intervention for the banking industry.
You'll tap into a reservoir of understanding as the last independent struggling to feed his or her family.
You might get much more cross-support across the supply chain than you might think, even from "company workers."
You could cause an immediate and deeper impact than, say, a GM auto worker.
You'll tap into a popular resentment against jobs outsourced overseas.

In terms of how ugly it could get, nobody likes to see things "go Greyhound," to invoke a prior conflict. But some people will understand that labor actions--or guild actions--sometimes need to reach a level of intensity to be effective. Keep raising the fact your back is against the wall, keep pointing to the abusive labor practices at the larger firms.

That said, as this isn't a strike against a company per se I think the independent trucker needs to consider how he or she could leverage their bargaining power economically speaking in a larger organization to get their costs down.

I really think something is going to happen. Folks are waiting for the other guy or gal to act but I thing somebody is going to light the match and set it off. No matter what happens, or whether the independent trucker is successful if you can convey the message:

It's time for the pendulum to swing back from Capital to Labor!

You might just be able to start the process where the money starts to flow back to the paycheck and away from the stockholder.

The rich will always scream about inflation but the rich are sitting on a ton of money.

If nothing else you stand a #### good chance of getting state and federal fuel excise taxes rolled back and walk away with major gratitude from the public.

I drive a crappy-### Volvo wagon that can't do north of 45mph. All you have to do is draft my tail and find two other hippies with crappy wagons to drive next to me, and it'll be game on.